Iowa's voter database is seriously flawed, leading some people's voting rights to be wrongly denied, Jason Clayworth reported for the Des Moines Register. And officials have known about the systemic issues for years.

Most of the drinking water that West Virginians pay to have treated never reaches a faucet. Instead, the water largely leaks out of the state's old pipes, wasting millions in public money, reporter Caity Coyne found after analyzing more than 300 local government reports for the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Caregivers at a New York nursing home have neglected to prevent bedsores for more than 1 in 10 of their high-risk patients, leading to a man's death from infection, Lou Michel reported for The Buffalo News.

A large Arkansas property owner regularly skirts building codes and has evicted dozens of tenants who have complained about poor conditions in their homes, Ginny Monk reported for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Phoenix health facility under fire for causing a comatose patient to become pregnant had been scrutinized years earlier by state regulators who wanted to pull patients from the premises, Robert Anglen and Stephanie Innes reported for The Arizona Republic.

Jaime Lowe, writing for Topic, examines baobab trees — as integral a part of the Botswana ecosytem as they are a part of local culture. Unfortunately, the scientists who discovered that ancient baobabs are dying have no clear explanation why.

Ken Klippenstein of The Young Turks found out that the “FBI has formed a new counterintelligence unit for rooting out leaks to news media, docs I obtained under FOIA confirm,” he tweeted with a link to the story. “This appears to be part of Trump admin’s crackdown on leaks. Last year, Jeff Sessions reported an 800% increase in leak investigations.” Check out Klippenstein’s story, as well as the documents he uncovered.

Dave Holmes, writing for Esquire, offers this “full-throated defense” of Hootie and the Blowfish,” and explains how the cruelty we allowed to bring the band down more than 20 years ago has led to the world we live in now. Several are calling it the best thing that has been written so far in 2019.

Skip Hollandsworth, writing for Texas Monthly, shares the unbelievably true story of a charming assistant funeral home director named Bernie Tiede who murders a wealthy widow, keeps her in a freezer for months, finally gets caught, and still has the town’s sympathy as his case goes to trial.

Based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Damien Willis is a newspaper columnist and communications professional. He generally writes about entertainment, pop culture and the ways we pass our time in the 21st century.